[vox-tech] DocBook

[Peter Jay Salzman]

begin Micah Cowan <micah@cowanbox.com> 
> On Thu, Jan 17, 2002 at 03:33:33PM -0800, Peter Jay Salzman wrote:
> > begin Micah Cowan <micah@cowanbox.com> 
> > > MOn Thu, Jan 17, 2002 at 01:31:04PM -0800, speck@blkmtn.org wrote:
> > > > On Thu, 17 January 2002, Micah Cowan wrote:
> > > 
> Maybe vi-users get their fingers hurt, but psgml-mode Emacs-users
> have a plethora of key-sequences which make the job much more

<snip>

#include <anything emacs can do, vim can do too>

/* notice that i said carpal tunnel OR use editor shortcuts!  :)  */

> > ok, that being said, my recommendation is: if you have a choice of latex
> > or docbook, definitely pick docbook, hand's down.  micah's reasons for
> > using it are much more persuasive than my reasons for not using it.
> > and the fact of the matter is, i do use docbook, grudgingly.
> 
> I'm surprised at your conclusion.  What reasons were those?  From my
> perspective, I didn't think that any of the reasons I offered were
> very strong advantages over LaTeX.  And the loss of direct control is
> usually a very big deal to me (somehow not big enough in this case, I
> guess).
 
well, i'm really talking from a practical standpoint.  my answer
would've been much different if steve had been in academia, especially
the sciences.  a good acamedician NEEDS to know latex for sure.  most
physics journals (most science journals?) make you pay a publishing fee
unless you submit your paper in latex format.  it's the way most scientists
communicate (not soft science.  i don't know if bio people use it
either).

but for someone who wants to write docs, and may want them in a whole
bevy of formats, i think docbook is really the only logical choice.
latex can eventually turn into all those formats too (except for
docbook, of course) but needs external agents.  docbooks' self
containment is impressive.   docbook is very popular right now, and i
have a feeling that its popularity is just going to grow.

pete



-- 
The mathematics [of physics] has become ever more abstract, rather than more
complicated.  The mind of God appears to be abstract but not complicated.
He also appears to like group theory.  --  Tony Zee's `Fearful Symmetry'

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